Chapter 30

30.

The Low Filth Sect Knows Everything

The most objective observer of this fight was Jang Deuk-su.

He was amazed by the Gray Aura erupting like a whirlwind from So Gun-pyeong's sword.

But the kitchen knife of his neighborhood younger brother, who until recently was a Shop Assistant, was even more mysterious.

The kitchen knife, which used to just chop garlic, was now wrapped in a bright red sauce as if dripping with blood, tearing apart the whirlwind.

In Jang Deuk-su's eyes...

Was it because the kitchen knife had won?

It was truly a beautiful sight.

The last thing Jang Deuk-su, who had not learned Martial arts, could barely make out was...

So Gun-pyeong barely managing to deflect the kitchen knife with a bizarre Southern Barbarian Sword he held with both hands.

The simultaneous roar caused Jang Deuk-su to drop the pot lid and cover his ears with both hands.

The force of the impact sent So Gun-pyeong's body flying like an arrow, slamming into the ground and rolling away.

"Wow..."

It was a sight Jang Deuk-su couldn't possibly understand.

'The fight is cool.'

If it had ended there, Jang Deuk-su wouldn't have been so surprised.

Surprisingly, So Gun-pyeong was still alive.

The Clan Leader, formerly a Shop Assistant, charged like a bull and was now beating the crap out of the just-risen So Gun-pyeong.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack...

A fight between incredible masters had rapidly devolved into a brawl between neighborhood thugs.

"He's really laying into him."

Only then did Jang Deuk-su realize that something was going strangely.

Jang Deuk-su now had an eye for these things.

The reason the once-agile Heukdo man was now being unilaterally beaten was probably because he had suffered an Internal Injury, as Martial World people would say.

In the meantime, the former Shop Assistant neighborhood younger brother was mercilessly beating the Heukdo man. While beating him, he was saying something to So Gun-pyeong, but Jang Deuk-su couldn't quite hear it.

'That guy's not right in the head either. What's he saying?'

Jang Deuk-su, forgetting his place without realizing it, stepped forward and said,

"Hey, Jaha. Stop hitting him. You'll kill him."

In fact, he was trying to stop him because he was worried that his neighborhood younger brother had been seized by Madness.

But the owner of Chunyang Restaurant, selling gukbap, stepping in to stop a fight between a former Shop Assistant and a Heukdo man was not a normal or everyday sight either.

* * *

I grabbed So Gun-pyeong's hair and lifted his head.

"You have good endurance."

So Gun-pyeong looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask what kind of nonsense I was spouting in this situation.

I squeezed his hair as if wringing it out and said,

"Heukdo man, are you coming to your senses?"

There was no answer, so I slapped him across the face, and Jang Deuk-su approached and said,

"Are you trying to kill him?"

I found Jang Deuk-su's words, worrying about a Heukdo master, one who would later be known by the moniker Three Hundred Cycles, to be too funny.

Most people who are engaged in business are like this. They are people who are far removed from the Martial World.

In fact, just deflecting the Flame Flower Scent like that meant So Gun-pyeong was a skilled man. But the reason this guy survived was also because I intentionally reduced the power I injected into the Flame Flower Scent.

"Gun-pyeong, are you ready to surrender now?"

So Gun-pyeong looked at me and grinned.

"Surrender? Do I look that pathetic?"

"You look very pathetic."

"How can I surrender to a Shop Assistant? Feel free to hit me more."

I pinched So Gun-pyeong's cheek and smiled.

'This is a strange guy? Is that why he survived so long, because he wasn't servile?'

I slapped So Gun-pyeong's cheek hard with the hand that had been pinching it.

Thwack— With the sound, So Gun-pyeong slammed his face into the ground and finally fainted.

"He has grit. I like him."

Jang Deuk-su, watching the fainted man, asked me,

"You beat him up and then you like him?"

"He got beat up a lot, but he wasn't servile. Sometimes you only know a man's true worth after you beat him up."

"You're going to kill someone trying to figure out that true worth. By the way, how are you going to do business now? He looks like a Black Cat Clan executive."

At those words, I met Jang Deuk-su's eyes and said,

"I told you. Rules of conduct. All of this is..."

"The Clan Leader did it? I'd be happy if things could be smoothed over with that kind of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talk."

At this time, Cha Seong-tae, who had appeared after hearing the news that a fight had broken out, approached and asked.

"Is our Clan Leader beating someone up again in broad daylight?"

I stared at Cha Seong-tae for a moment.

Was it because the neighborhood was small?

This guy was appearing like a ghost every time a fight ended.

I asked.

"Do you know him?"

"No? Who is he? He looks pretty feisty. Heukdo, right?"

"I heard he's the Gold Dragon Hall Lord of the Black Cat Clan."

Cha Seong-tae muttered.

"Gold Dragon means he's a pretty high-ranking executive. But why did he come alone? His face is just a dumpling skin."

I looked at the fainted man and guessed.

"He probably came alone on the Black Cat Clan Leader's orders."

"Why?"

"Because it would be embarrassing for the Black Cat Clan to send too many people. Because I'm a Shop Assistant."

"Ah."

"And he was probably testing the waters. To see how spicy the guy in Ilyang Prefecture is."

Cha Seong-tae, who had become a bit bolder lately, stuck out his foot and nudged So Gun-pyeong's body.

"He's still breathing. Should I kill him?"

I looked at Cha Seong-tae.

Because this guy was saying to kill him, I somehow didn't want to kill him.

The fate of people is so strange.

And somehow, it felt unsettling to end the life of a person who would come to have the moniker Three Hundred Cycles with my own hands.

It was like having to kill a mystical turtle that had lived for hundreds of years with my own hands. If he had survived that long in his previous life, he must have been worth living that life. Because, originally, the lifespan of Heukdo men is very short.

"Take him to an empty room in the House of pleasure for a while."

"Ah, you're going to torture him and then kill him?"

I smacked Cha Seong-tae's head for the first time in a while.

"Why are you, the Clan Leader of the Life Gate, keep saying to kill him?"

Cha Seong-tae rubbed his head and replied with a dazed expression.

"Ah, is that what the Life Gate is? Okay, I understand."

"Drag him away. And take his Weaponry too."

"Yes."

As Cha Seong-tae disappeared, taking the fainted So Gun-pyeong and his Weaponry, Jang Deuk-su picked up the kitchen knife that had fallen on the ground, examined it, and said in a surprised tone.

"Wow! Look at this."

Jang Deuk-su held out the kitchen knife and said.

"He was an incredible master."

I looked at the bent kitchen knife and said.

"Not bad. I'll buy you a new kitchen knife."

"It's okay. I can get it fixed at the Iron Squad. It's not like I don't know Old Man Geum."

"Do as you please."

Jang Deuk-su said with a worried look.

"Isn't Ilyang Prefecture going to be ruined now?"

"Of course not. The Black Cat Clan will be ruined. Let's each get back to work."

"Let's do that."

After parting ways with Jang Deuk-su, I took a look around the construction site. Not wanting to bother the people working, I stared at Yeon Ja-seong, who was supervising the construction from a distance, and headed to the Plum Blossom Brothel.

At this point, I wondered if I should attack the Black Cat Clan first.

Because I didn't want to harm those who had businesses to run.

Because not all of the Black Cat Clan were like So Gun-pyeong, who knew how to pay for their meals.

* * *

I said to Cha Seong-tae, who was guarding So Gun-pyeong next to the bedding,

"Wake him up."

"Yes."

Cha Seong-tae kicked the bedding and said,

"Wake up. You bastard, is this your living room?"

So Gun-pyeong, who had been unconscious, quietly opened his eyes as if waking up from sleep, then startled and raised his upper body.

"Huh!"

So Gun-pyeong looked around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a startled look and swallowed hard.

'Why am I alive?'

I asked the guy who hadn't come to his senses yet,

"Gun-pyeong, where is that crazy Daenachal these days?"

"I don't know. How would I know? Even the Clan Leader wouldn't know, so how would we know?"

So Gun-pyeong was talking when he frowned and touched his face. His cheek was swollen.

"The Black Cat Clan Leader?"

"He's at the main Clan."

"I'm asking what he's doing these days."

"He's training."

"Another ranking battle?"

So Gun-pyeong looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask how I knew that.

"Why? Is it strange that I know?"

"It can't help but be strange."

"Our Low Filth Sect knows everything except what it doesn't know."

So Gun-pyeong, in the midst of not being able to come to his senses, frowned because he didn't understand what I just said.

"What nonsense are you talking about."

After saying it, I felt a little proud.

The truth was that I knew because I had regressed to the past, but from now on, I was going to attribute the information and knowledge I had to the fact that I belonged to the Low Filth Sect.

If that was the case, then the best information organization in the Martial World would also be the Low Filth Sect.

Of course, it was because of my regression, but that was the way it was.

Cha Seong-tae also glared at So Gun-pyeong and repeated my words.

"Our Low Filth Sect doesn't know anything."

I corrected Cha Seong-tae's words.

"That's not true. What we don't know, we don't know."

"Ah, is that so?"

"What's important is the ability to quickly find out what we don't know."

"That's right."

Cha Seong-tae suddenly berated So Gun-pyeong.

"Do you understand? We are the ones who find out what we don't know. In the end, that means there's nothing the Low Filth Sect doesn't know. The strongest information organization, that is the Low Filth Sect."

However, So Gun-pyeong didn't yet know what kind of organization the Low Filth Sect was. So Gun-pyeong looked at me and said.

"So you weren't an ordinary person after all. You were a minion of a force called the Low Filth Sect."

"A minion?"

"I heard you were a Shop Assistant."

Cha Seong-tae smacked So Gun-pyeong's head. With a thwack— sound, So Gun-pyeong collapsed back onto the bedding, and Cha Seong-tae said.

"Where did this impudent bastard come from, calling our Clan Leader a Shop Assistant, is he crazy?"

Cha Seong-tae looked at me and continued.

"Clan Leader, this bastard has a knack for asking for a beating."

I suddenly looked at Cha Seong-tae and worried for a moment that this guy might become a traitor later.

So Gun-pyeong, with an angry expression, jumped up, and Cha Seong-tae, startled, stepped back.

"Oh, you scared me."

So Gun-pyeong seemed to have a naturally strong body, so his endurance was not ordinary. So Gun-pyeong was actually not a man that Cha Seong-tae could handle alone. But Seong-tae, who had a high probability of becoming a traitor in the future, was not one to be intimidated because I was next to him.

"What are you going to do by glaring? Do you want to die here?"

I said to Cha Seong-tae.

"You go out for a while."

Cha Seong-tae replied politely.

"Yes, Clan Leader."

So Gun-pyeong looked me up and down with a fresh look and said.

"You're the Low Filth Sect Clan Leader? I heard you were a Shop Assistant."

I stared at So Gun-pyeong for a long time and then said.

"Gun-pyeong, cut the crap. Do you have any thoughts of coming under me?"

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asked the question without expecting an immediate positive answer.

So Gun-pyeong answered immediately.

"No. How could a wolf cub..."

I sensed that he was going to say, "go under a dog," so I immediately cut him off.

"Shut up. Before I tear that mouth of yours."

"..."

From So Gun-pyeong's perspective, the Low Filth Sect was a shabby organization that he had never heard of, so it was only natural. I stared at So Gun-pyeong for a while without saying anything, and then asked a cold question, devoid of emotion.

"Judging by your face, you seem to have a pretty long lifespan, should I kill you here?"

I slowly approached So Gun-pyeong.

So Gun-pyeong couldn't open his mouth. It was because he felt like he would die immediately if he asked to be killed.

I smiled and said.

"Don't be stubborn and answer well. I'll kill you right away if you ask me to. A wolf cub what? Were you perhaps going to say how could you go under a dog? Where did someone make up this saying? Should I find them and kill them?"

I thought this was a subtly memorable saying.

I don't know why.

I know one secret to taking a guy like this under my command.

It's a very effective and historically proven method.

The standard way to take a guy who doesn't listen well under your command was when Master Zhuge Liang captured Maeng Hoek, he left a great ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠example.

The so-called Seven Captures, Seven Releases.

Beat him up, release him, and then beat him up again.

My conclusion was that So Gun-pyeong had only been beaten up by me once so far.

I blurted out the thoughts that were flashing through my brain.

"...That's why men should read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

"..."

So Gun-pyeong, who couldn't understand the context of the conversation at all, was looking at me with fearful eyes for the first time.